Mid-School BMX Hit: Luke Weatherall in 2004

While perusing internets yesterday, the friendly, public-interest motivated algorithm decided to offer me a snack, a tasty little snack which I was happy to devour. This little morsel came in the form of a throwback clip, what is understood to be a 20 minute session from the Melbourne skatepark of Camberwell, featuring none other than Australian BMX legend, Luke Weatherall. 

Popping up on the Youtube channel of Andrei Sablinskis, who the older crew would be aware of. I myself am struggling to come up with any details to offer other than a vague knowing that this dude was involved with FP early on, contributed to 2020 and I'm fairly certain produced a video/video series. It may be worth your while to sus that channel out, there were a bunch of mid-school related videos on there. 

Anyway, the video. For a 2 minute piece at a single skatepark from almost 20 years ago, it sure is entertaining. I would urge you to watch this if you aren't aware of the talents of Luke, a bloke who has sadly passed in recent times. The dude was a Melbournite, a remarkably skilled biker well ahead of his time who helped shape and progress BMX in Australia. He was, if I'm correct, one of the first crew to fall under the Triple 6 banner and blew many a mind at a dirt comp the nation over. I remember catching him at a dirt jam in combination with the National titles in Adelaide in 2006. I remember him being ridiculously good at barspins and spins. 

The below image was extracted from Issue 15 of 2020, also from 2004. It's in association with a small piece on the Diamond Creek trails - a breeding ground for mudslinging biker boys and a featured spot in many mid-school videos and issues of 2020. Photo by Graeme Pereira. 

I'm getting side-tracked again, the video. How many tricks can one dude do that you don't see anymore, in 2 minutes, 20 years ago, from one session. Shit tonnes is the answer.

• 360 1 hand-x over the spine
• Double bar to tap to free bar
• Bar to tap to double free bar
• Double bar suicide over the spine
• Bar over the spine to one hand lander to deck manual back in. Then proceeds to do it again, but with a free bar in and out
• Bar to no-foot can
• Dude also handles backies, nothings, whips and truck-drivers with alarming ease. 

If this doesn't tantalise a watch, sure. 

And remember, from a small seed, a mighty trunk grows.